


The Good Place

by damerey_knows



Series: Damerey Week 2019 [3]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Damerey Week, Day Six, F/M, Torture Buddies, damereyweek, the good place AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 09:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21097277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damerey_knows/pseuds/damerey_knows
Summary: When Rey Niima wakes up in a waiting room, she is told she is dead and that she made it into the Good Place....Only problem is... they think she's someone else.Damerey Week 2019 Day Six: Torture Buddies





	The Good Place

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I know I am WAY behind on my damereyweek prompts. Day Four is gonna be the next chapter for [Painted History](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16181438/chapters/37810928) because it fits with the Memories prompt but idk when I will be done with it..... hopefully soon *fingers crossed* and my day five fic is still in the works.... sigh. I'll get this done when it happens anyways
> 
> This will be multi chapter because I can't fit the prompt into the first chapter so... yeah. Any ways, This is gonna deviate from the show soon, even though it is very similar right now. Idk right now, here's what I got. It's un-beta-d so I will probably come back and fix some stuff later on....
> 
> Hope you like it  
Jumana

Rey took a deep breath. Her eyes were closed but she could smell the scent of vanilla and asphalt that always hung around her favorite bakery on 6th street. The one where the pigeon once let loose on Cindy Jones. The memory calmed her a little and she opened her eyes.

Written on the wall across from her in big green letters were the words “Welcome! Everything is fine.”

Rey felt reassured as she looked around the small waiting room she was sitting in. The walls were the neutral beige of every doctor’s office she’d ever been in, even down to the ferns in pots spread around the edge of the room.

Just then a door to her left opened and a tall man with blond hair stuck his head out. “Rey,” he said in a calm voice. “Come on in.”

Rey followed him into a tidy office and took a seat in the chair across from his desk. “Hi, Rey. I’m Anakin, how are you today?”

“I’m,” Rey started, taking a deep breath. “I’m alright, I guess. Where am I?”

Anakin smiled down at the folder on his desk for a moment before looking back up at her. “Well, Rey, you are dead.”

Rey thought she would be freaking out but the shock of his words seemed to be registering slower than usual. Maybe she was still acclimating to this place, but she was starting to get her bearings. “Oh, okay. A few more questions.”

“I figured,” Anakin said with a laugh.

“Who are you? How did I die? How come I can’t remember anything about that?”

He sighed, as if settling himself in for a long conversation. “I am Anakin, I am the architect of this neighborhood. In the event of traumatic or embarrassing causes of death, we usually erase the memory.”

“Oh,” Rey whispered, still absorbing all this information. “So, how did I die?”

Anakin opened the file on his desk again. “You sure you want to know?”

Rey nodded.

“Well, let’s see. You were in Phoenix, Arizona at a bus stop when a giant mastiff owned by your ex-boyfriend recognized you and bounded right into you knocking you into oncoming traffic.”

“Oh,” Rey mumbled. That damn dog never stopped trying to squish her.

“Then when the ambulance arrived the EMT was Jeanne, who, of course is-”

“Okay, yeah, I get it,” Rey cut in quickly. Jeanne was another kid who grew up in Rey’s foster house. Rey didn’t want to drudge up the last agonizing memory of her again. She decided to ask a less personal question. “Um, so, I have to ask, Who got it right?”

Anakin smiled and nodded. “Well, a bunch of people guessed, but none were more than about five or six percent accurate. Except for a guy in Canada called J.J. Binks.” He pointed up at a poster on the wall of the office. “The guy got high on mushrooms in 1977 and guessed about ninety-one percent correct.”

“Wow.” Rey looked up at the guy’s long face and shaggy hair. “Okay, so you still didn’t answer where I am right now.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I mean am I in the-” she pointed a finger up at the ceiling- “or-” she pulled a face as she gestured down.

Anakin smiled. “It’s not exactly as cut and dry as that, but you are in the Good Place, Rey.”

Rey breathed a sigh of relief. “Great.”

“So come on,” Anakin said waving his hand as he stood up. “Let me show you around the neighborhood.”

Rey followed him out of the office and down to the street.

The neighborhood was bright and cheery. It reminded her a lot of those old tv shows she used to watch on the shitty tv in the living room, after Unkar passed out drunk. The Brady Bunch maybe. Rey shrugged it off as she jogged to keep up with Anakin’s long stride down the cobblestone path. _Is that an actual white picket fence? _

“So this is the neighborhood,” Anakin said, gesturing widely at the various little shops. “You have a community around you of three hundred and twenty people all individually selected to create the most harmonious environment for you all to spend eternity.”

“Why are there so many Fro-Yo places?” Rey couldn’t help asking. There were a bunch of stores with names like “Your Happy Place” or “Adorable Animals” but there were also like six frozen yogurt places in the block and a half they had walked since exiting Anakin’s office.

“Yeah,” Anakin stopped walking and looked around. “We put those in every neighborhood. People seem to love Fro-Yo.”

Rey nodded as they moved on towards a green grassy area where a lot of other people were sitting in chairs.

“You should take your seat, the movie’s about to start.”

The movie detailed more of what Anakin was talking about earlier. It explained how the point system worked on Earth and how they had all gotten where they are now. It explained how the Neighborhood was set up and how everything was perfectly calibrated to the occupants. It also explained that there were such a thing as soulmates.

“Yes,” said the Anakin on screen. “Soulmates are real, and you will meet yours very soon.”

Rey couldn’t help but glance around at all the others near her. Her eyes met those of a dark skinned man sitting a few rows behind her. She blushed and looked away quickly.

The movie went on and on, talking about all the great accomplishments that each occupant did on Earth that earned them their spot in The Good Place. The more they talked about it the more an uneasy feeling stirred in Rey’s stomach. If the movie was correct, she was surrounded by Nobel Laureates and real life heroes. What was she doing there?

Before she could follow that train of thought down the rabbit hole too far, the movie ended.

Anakin walked over to her. “So, you ready to see your new house?”

Rey nodded, shoving the feeling away as she stood and followed Anakin down a different path, past a river and towards the outskirts of the neighborhood.

They walked through a break in a cluster of trees and opened to reveal a colorful little cottage.

“Every home in the neighborhood,” Anakin said as they walked up to the cabin. “Has been specifically designed to suit the personality and soul of each occupant.”

“Right so that’s why my house is…” Rey trailed off, unsure of how to describe her house.

Anakin smiled. “Exactly.” He opened the door and showed her inside the house. Immediately Rey’s discomfort grew. The feeling of not belonging that had been nagging at her earlier was now screaming in her ears.

Anakin lead her into a sitting room covered with pictures of clowns. “We know you love clowns,” he said gesturing to the pictures.

“Right.” Rey’s smile felt forced. Clowns were fine, but the pictures hanging on her walls looked more like mugshots of Penniwise’s best friends.

“Let me show you how the video system works.” He waved his hand upwards in front of a low dresser on one side of the sitting room and Rey saw her name, Rey Niima, appear on a holographic screen. “Right, so if you would like you are able to scroll through your memories from your time on Earth and replay them here. For example.” He made another gesture and a classroom appeared on the board full of children hunched over books. “Your work teaching at a school for the blind in rural China, that was great, got you loads of points for that one. Or, Oh!” He gestured again. “That time you went to Australia to help the Flatback Sea Turtle off of the Endangered species list.” The video shifted to what looked like a veterinarian’s office with a giant turtle on the table.

“Right,” Rey breathed, watching the video flash by.

Just then a knocking came from the foyer and a man with dark hair and a wide smile pressed the door open slightly. “Hello?” he called out.

“Ah, Poe,” Anakin said, smiling as he gestured Poe into the room. “Right on time.”

“Hi,” Poe said, his eyes crinkling at the edges as they met Rey’s.

Anakin turned to Rey. “Rey, this is your soulmate, Poe.”

“Oh, uh, hi,” Rey said, a smile fixed to her face as offered her hand to Poe.

Poe strode forward and took her hand.

“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” Anakin said, bowing out of the room as Poe continued to hold her hand.

“So,” Poe said, taking a seat next to her on the modular sofa. “I guess we should get to know each other.”

“Probably,” Rey said, still smiling at him. She couldn’t help it. “Where are you from?”

“Guatemala, originally,” Poe said smiling. “But I grew up in Miami and D.C. and then ran all over the globe. How about you?”

“Well, I, uh,” Rey began. “I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, then moved to Tuscon, Arizona, then, moved back to Phoenix, Arizona.”

“That’s great!” Poe said. _He has a nice smile,_ the voice in the back of Rey’s head said. “So how are you liking it here so far?”

“Um,” Rey hedged. “It’s nice. Kinda weird.”

Poe nodded. “Yeah, it’s a lot to adjust to.”

“Can I tell you something?” Rey blurted out. She couldn’t keep this in any longer, especially with the eyes of Sad-clown-on-blue-background boring into her over his shoulder. “And you have to swear you won’t tell anyone.”

“Uh, I will,” Poe said, uncertainly.

“Promise me,” Rey insisted, grabbing his hand and staring into his dark eyes. “Say, ‘I promise I will never betray you, Rey, no matter what happens, for any reason.’”

“Rey.” Poe pulled one hand away from hers and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand was warm where it rested on her face. “I swear I will never say or do anything that would ever hurt you. Directly or indirectly.”

“Good, because those aren’t my memories,” she said in a rush, pointing at the screen. “I was never a veterinarian or a teacher or whatever. I never went to Australia. The closest I came to a turtle was the time my cousin brought the class pet home from school and I lost it in the attic. Clowns creep me the fork out. There’s been a big mistake. I’m not supposed to be here.”

“What?” Poe’s jaw dropped and his eyebrows almost disappeared into his curly hair.

Rey ran her hands through her hair and stood up to start pacing. “Someone forked up royally when I died.” She did a double take. “Forked up? Fork. Why can’t I say fork?” she asked.

“Are you trying to curse?” Poe asked. “Some people here really don’t like it, so you can’t do that.”

“Well that’s a load of bullshirt.”

Poe gave her a look, before continuing, standing up from the couch and turning to the floating tv screen showing the memories Anakin thought were Rey’s. “So none of these memories are yours?”

“Nope,” Rey said. “I never left the States.”

Poe just stared at her for a moment. He pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed a breath. “So, who are you, then?”

“Well, I was telling the truth before,” Rey said, twisting her fingers as she watched his expression carefully. “I really was from Arizona. I was a normal person, I guess, though,” she paused, thinking. If she was going to tell someone all of this it would probably be best for it to be her soulmate. “If I’m being honest, I could be kinda an ashhole at times.”

“What did you do for a living?”

Rey bit her lip. “I was a… I was a sales person.”

Poe’s eyes narrowed at her tone. “What did you sell?”

Rey looked away from him. “I was a mechanic.”

“Okay, that’s not too bad.” Poe looked a little relieved.

“I was supposed to leave the cars just a little broken so the customer would come back within two weeks with something different wrong with the car,” Rey added. “I mean looking back on it, it was probably also a front for the mob.”

Poe covered his face with his hands and began muttering to himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at her. “So, your job was to defraud car-owners so that your boss could launder mob money?”

Rey could feel the indignation rising in her. “Don’t give me that attitude. I’m sure you weren’t perfect. What did you do?”

“I was a U.N. Goodwill ambassador.”

“Oh.” Rey wilted.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Rey groaned. She bit her lip, thinking.

“Maybe,” Poe hedged. “Maybe this is a test, and if you come clean to Anakin you’ll get to stay.”

“I don’t want to go to the Bad Place,” Rey said, grabbing his hand again. “I can’t risk that.”

“Maybe it’s an exaggeration,” Poe speculated. “Maybe it’s just normal down there.”

“Can’t risk it.”

“We can ask Kaydel.”

“Who’s Kaydel?” Rey asked but Poe wasn’t paying attention to her.

“Hey, Kaydel?”

“Hello.”

Rey jumped about a foot in the air, knocking a weird looking vase off the end table.

A pretty blonde lady was standing next to her wearing a purple vest and skirt. “Who the fork are you?”

The blonde lady smiled at her. “I’m Kaydel, I’m the informational assistant here in the Good Place.”

“She’s a walking database of all the knowledge of the Universe,” Poe said. “You can ask her anything.”

“Oh!” Rey turned to her. “When I was in foster care there was a kid named Teedo. Did he steal the trophy I got from the school fair for ‘Highest Ringtoss score’?”

“No,” Kaydel said. “You lost it when you were transfered to the house with Teedo two weeks after you won the trophy.”

“Huh, I guess I owed him an apology.” Rey didn’t like to think of that next house, the one with Unkar Plutt.

“Yes, you did.”

“It’s okay, he probably forgot,” Rey said turning to smile at Poe.

“He mentions it in therapy once a year,” Kaydel added.

Rey glared at her.

“Okay,” Poe interrupted before Rey could say anything else. “Kaydel, we were wondering, what the Bad Place was like.”

Kaydel turned her polite smile on him. “I’m sorry, I’m prohibited from telling you about the Bad Place. I can play a brief soundbyte of what is happening there right now.” Kaydel paused and the room was filled with screaming and what sounded like a car crash.

Rey stared at him. “Well that doesn’t exactly sound like a tea party.”

“I need some air,” Poe muttered and walked toward the door with Rey hot on his heels.

They walked in silence for a few blocks, passing other houses and reaching the main plaza of the Neighborhood.

Finally, Rey couldn’t stomach the quiet. “Poe?” she asked hesitantly as she walked behind him. “What are you going to do, Poe?”

Poe turned to her, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t know,” he said. “I just-”

“Hey, you two!” Anakin’s voice called over to them.

Rey turned to see Anakin walking up to them with the dark skinned man she’d seen during the introduction movie who was arm in arm with a small Asian woman. Rey slid her arm into Poe’s elbow, feeling awkward.

“I just wanted to introduce you guys,” Anakin said, gesturing between them. “Poe, Rey, this is Rose Tico and Finn.”

“H-Hi!” Rose said, offering her hand to them. “It’s so nice to meet you!” Rose was very bubbly, Finn just smiled at them both quietly.

“Right, yes, sorry,” Rose said quickly. “Finn here is a little shy.”

Rey nodded, smiling up at him.

“Well, I just wanted to tell you all.” Anakin clapped his hands together. “That we are having a Welcome to the Neighborhood party tonight, and it’s going to be hosted in the plaza. I do hope you’ll come.”

“Wouldn’t dream of missing it,” Rey said through a gritted smile.

“Excellent! We’ll see you then.” With that the three of them walked off.

“Oh, this is not good,” Poe muttered.

“Come here.” Rey dragged his arm and pulled him down a side street off the main plaza. “You can’t say anything!” she hissed.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Poe whispered. “But what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know!” Rey threw her hands up.

Poe just stared at her for a long minute.

“Okay, here’s what we’re doing,” Rey said. “We’re not going to tell anyone. We’re just going to pretend that I’m supposed to be here, and hopefully no one notices.”

“I can’t lie to these people, Rey,” Poe hissed.

“C’mon!” Rey wasn’t above begging here.

Poe bit his lip. “Fine,” he said. “Fine, I’ll help you at the party.”

“Thank you!” Rey threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek in excitement. She could feel his laughter.

“Let’s just get through the party, okay?”

“Definitely,” Rey said, pulling back. “We can figure everything else out later.”

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? I didn't get to the Party or the Chaos sequence in this chapter, but they will be next. Also, Rey, Poe, Finn, and Rose are gonna fill similar roles to Eleanor, Chidi, Jason and Tahani but their sins/personalities are probably gonna be more in line with their personalities in SW... Idk we'll see :)
> 
> <3  
I should have a bunch more prompts up tomorrow, hopefully. I did every day of Damereyweek last year and I am determined to do the same this year :)
> 
> Jumana


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